Adventures in Feeding Hummingbirds

Our first feeder is the one shown in the picture above. It's a fairly large feeder, which has turned out to be both a blessing and a bit of a problem. First, the blessing part. The volume of sugar water that we can put in that feeder works very well in the hot desert climate of the Phoenix area. We also have lots of birds visiting, so having the ability to put out a lot of water is very nice.

On the other hand, we do go through a lot of sugar! Speaking of that, we generally use a 1:4 ratio of sugar to water. We use filtered tap water, brought to a boil before we mix in the sugar. We make about 8 cups at a time, which will generally last us 10 days in summer and a bit more than 2 weeks in winter. If it's particularly hot, we may drop the ratio to 1:5 - the birds don't need as much energy and do need the moisture, or so I understand! We do not use food coloring, nor do we need it. The birds find the feeders just fine without it.

We also have a smaller feeder and between the two of them we'll easily go through 6-8 cups of sugar water in a two week period during the summer months.

Hanging a feeder can be done from the eaves of a porch, the branch of a tree or pretty much anywhere that you want. It's best not to have the feeder in full sunshine, especially in mid-summer - the temperature of the solution can get quite hot.

Cleaning the feeder is also a regular part of the chores that go along with the joy. You need to keep the feeder clean, keep it free of mold and sugar build-up, and keep insects out of it. Most of the time I can simply rinse everything in hot water, but you may need to use a toothbrush to get at some of the hard-to-reach parts if you leave it too long. I've seen all sorts of time schedules and discussions on whether to use bleach or soap. My own opinion is that you should match the amount of sugar water with a reasonable schedule and rinse clean before refilling. If you have a big feeder but it takes a long time for it to get emptied, just don't put a lot of sugar water in it. As you get more visitors or the heat of summer encourages them to drink more, then add more.

Spacing is another issue. If you have two or more feeders, the best choice is to put the second one out of sight of the first. That way the hummingbirds can't guard as well and you will be able to feed more birds. However, if you don't have a good sheltered place for that second one, you may have to experiment with placement near the first. With our other visitors, the hummers don't get to defend the feeders all that much anyway, so far as I can tell.

Of course, your appreciation for the feeders is also a part of the placement - it's a lot more fun overall to be able to see the feeders out the living room or kitchen window than to have go outside and watch!

One more downside that deserves to be mentioned: Sugar water will get spilled. Windy days, birds fighting, walking into the feeder hanging to low, or whatever - they will spill. That means that you may have spots on your porch (but then, you'll have bird "spots" anyway!). Choose your location with that in mind.

When we first put up the feeder, we thought that we would probably have to wait a little while before the hummingbirds found the feeder, assuming they ever did. It turned out that we didn't have long to wait before they showed up, and we have them around all year long. We also found that we were attracting other birds as well, and that's not something we expected.

As I mentioned earlier, the picture up top isn't a hummingbird shot. That's a Gila woodpecker. It took me a long time to get that picture because it rarely stays hanging upside-down and it's also very camera shy. We also have Gilded Flickers and House finches regularly visiting.

We've talked about cutting off the perches so that only the hovering hummingbirds could drink, but then how often do you get to see woodpeckers up close? The hummingbirds like to perch too, so the perches stay.

We bought a second feeder that had somewhat larger slots for drinking and found that very quickly we had a problem with bees. Unlike the birds, the bees were voracious and did not play well with the birds (although the woodpecker ate a few of them, I think). We tossed that one and got another with a much smaller opening and that took care of the bees.

The other problem that we've had is with ants and so far we've been able to manage that with moats that clip on the wire which holds the feeder. There are several types of those, including some that are built in to the feeders. One of the more interesting recommendations that I've seen is to cut a spray can lid and mount it with the open side down, but with some super-sticky stuff called Tanglefoot on the inside (on the "bottom" of the lid). By putting the sticky stuff on the covered surface, the birds won't accidentally get any on their feathers. I haven't had the need to find out if it works, but I will the next time we have problems with ants!

The hummingbirds are most amazing creatures. They are so tiny and yet so willing to challenge even a big guy like me. They are beautiful in flight and at rest, especially when the males are catching the sun "just so" and that incredible glowing red turns them into flying jewels.

They're also impressively aggressive for their size. We have a dog that weighs in at about 36 pounds and I've seen the hummingbirds try to intimidate her. They will back off from the larger birds while those are on the feeders, but they never stay away very long. They also are possessive of the feeders and it's not at all unusual to see hummingbirds in aerial combat over the feeders.

By the way, I've researched this online and the consensus is that feeding the birds does not interfere with their migration patterns or take away their normal survival skills. Hummingbirds get a lot of their food by eating tiny insects and stopping by all of the many flowers in the area.

One of the skills that I have yet to master with regard to these amazing critters is telling the species apart. I think that the ones we have here are mostly Anna's, but Arizona is home to a huge number of species. I hope that this will entice you to see if you can get hummingbirds to visit your home too!